[rescue] Nicolet 400- series and 660-series.

[Andy Crofts]

Two things that should make you wary of buying one of these...
Firstly, the ROM technology was based on fuseable ROM's. The idea was, the
programmer blew a fuse to program the cell from a 1 --> 0. This technology,
over time, can grow back, rendering your machine useless.
Secondly, at one time in the late 80's I was the only person in Europe that
could fix a Nicolet 660B. Needed a helluvalot of ancilliary equipment
(extender boards, diagnostics). As the youngest person who could fix them -
and I'm 57 - I don't wanna repair another. 660's kept me awake all night
trying. (Although I never had to send one back to US for them to fix - even
though I was trained in their Orangeburg facility).
I think I'm the only person still alive who still could. It's not just an
oscilloscope job. Neither series had 'Microprocesors' as we know them. 440
used 74181 4-bit slice, the 660 has 2901 slice bit processors.
If one chip fails, the machine is dead.
Unless your vendor has access to extender cards, the "Wurlitzer" (for
stepping through instructions) and the correct 44-bit microcode listing, it
can't be fixed.